Heads up!

No one likes being surprised.  Ok, that’s not entirely true, instead I’ll say like no one likes getting handed big news in meetings.  I’ve seen many meetings devolve into reactive damage control when some big announcement is shared that rocks the boat.  Maybe it’s a project update that folks weren’t expecting, or maybe it’s some change in The Plan.  Regardless, this information is new to at least some of the individuals involved, and they don’t take it well.

This results in most of the meeting taken up by explanations, of how we got to where we’re at, of why we made that decision etc. The time that should have been spent planning on next steps is instead focused on explaining what happened, resulting in a loss of time and potentially some credibility.

I’ve started to take a different approach.  Instead of waiting for a meeting or gathering to pronounce something, instead I’ll give everyone a preview, a heads up, before the call.  I’ll break down some of the ways I do this below, but in general they all have one thing in common - they eliminate the surprise factor.

Group Email

Sending a preparatory email to the entire group (or sub sets) is one great way to prepare everyone.  Since email can be very asynchronous and is easily missed I tend to use this approach when the update will be less impactful.  Email does, however, offer the advantage of being rather information rich - it’s easy to include links, documents, etc. to help bolster your message

Individual instant messages

If the topic is a bit more contentious/sensitive/etc, or if the stakeholder has more influence I’ll reach out directly with an instant message.  GIven the prevalence of tools like Slack, this can be seen as a more personalized approach.  It is also, at least in my experience, less likely to be ignored until later (like Email) and tends to get a quicker response.

Pre-Meetings / Calls

If it’s a VERY sensitive topic or highly influential stakeholder I’ll reach out to them via call/virtual meeting for a face-to-face update.  This is the most time consuming and hardest to do with larger groups, but can help you get the message across in the most effective way.  It also demonstrates that you take this seriously which can help further blunt any impact.